SoftBank and KDDI build a shared RAN in Japan

SoftBank and KDDI have selected Nokiaa as one of the vendors to deploy Japan’s shared RAN. 

Nokia will install a Multi-Operator Radio Access Network (MORAN), which will allow both companies to share the RAN while keeping core networks separate.

Under the deal, Nokia will supply its latest AirScale products including baseband and radio platforms. Nokia’s MORAN is triple mode and covers LTE, 5G as well as Dynamic Spectrum Sharing. In particular, Nokia will provide its new generation of ReefShark System-on-Chip based plug-in cards to increase the capacity of the AirScale baseband. The new ReefShark-powered plug-in cards are easily installed and simplify the upgrade and extended operation of all AirScale deployments. They also deliver up to eight times more throughput compared to previous generations. Nokia’s modular AirScale baseband will enable SoftBank and KDDI to scale capacity flexibly and efficiently and as their 5G business evolves.

Tomohiro Sekiwa, Senior Vice President and CNO, SoftBank, said: “In order to deliver the best 5G experience to customers nationwide as quickly as possible, SoftBank is working with KDDI to develop a shared 5G network. In this effort, a Multi-Operator Radio Access Network is a key technology that will bring various efficiencies and we look forward to the high performance of Nokia’s products in this regard.”

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Credo debuts 400G and 800G MACsec devices

Credo introduced its Osprey family of second-generation Media Access Control Security (MACsec) solutions for 400G and 800G networks. 

Credo’s high-speed Osprey MACsec devices address security requirements for various Ethernet data link configurations. Credo's latest 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) cipher technology is integrated to deliver increased data security to critical high-speed data links between servers, switches, and routers. Osprey devices are Cryptographic Algorithm Validation Program (CAVP) certified by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Credo says the new Osprey devices deliver a 40% power savings versus competing devices and allow Credo to deliver the industry’s most comprehensive family of PHY devices to support the IEEE 802.1AE MACsec and Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) standard for 10G through 400G port interconnects used in the most demanding data center environments.

“Credo is extending our established MACsec leadership with the lowest power MACsec solutions in the industry — the new Osprey 400 and Osprey 800. Osprey devices consume 40% less power than competing devices with the same throughput,” said Scott Feller, Vice President, Marketing at Credo. “The ability to deliver solutions that enable 400G-800G secure connectivity, within the defined power envelope, is the reason hyperscale cloud data centers worldwide have selected Credo MACsec solutions,” Feller continued.

The Osprey 400 and Osprey 800 devices are in mass production. 

https://www.credosemi.com/line-card-osprey-400

https://www.credosemi.com/line-card-osprey-800

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Verizon's mmWave 5G hits 711 Mbps up with Qualcomm, Samsung

Verizon, Samsung Electronics, and Qualcomm Technologie reached upload speeds of 711 Mbps in a lab trial using aggregated bands of mmWave spectrum.

The demonstration combined 400 MHz of Verizon’s 5G mmWave frequency and 20 MHz of 4G frequency using the latest 5G technologies, including mmWave carrier aggregation and Single-User MIMO (SU-MIMO). Network technology used in the demo included Samsung’s 28 GHz 5G Compact Macro and virtualized RAN (vRAN) and Core (vCore) along with a smartphone form-factor test device powered by the flagship Snapdragon X65 5G Modem-RF System.

“Our mmWave build is a critical differentiator, even as we drive towards massive and rapid expansion of our 5G service using our newly acquired mid-band spectrum, we are doubling down on our commitment to mmWave spectrum usage,” said Adam Koeppe, senior vice president, technology planning, Verizon. “You will see us continue to expand our mmWave footprint to deliver game changing experiences for the densest parts of our network and for unique enterprise solutions. We had over 17k mmWave cell sites at the end of last year and are on track to add 14k more in 2021, with over 30k sites on air by the end of this year, and we’ll keep building after that,” said Koeppe.

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ADTRAN cites record demand and supply chain constraints

ADTRAN announced the following preliminary financial results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2021:

• revenue is expected to be $138 million, gross margin is expected to be 34.5%, non-GAAP gross margin is expected to be 34.6%, operating loss is expected to be $10.1 million and non-GAAP operating loss is expected to be $2.6 million. 
• the lower gross margin and decreased profitability, as compared to prior guidance, was attributed to approximately $9 million in quantifiable supply chain constraint-related expenses incurred during the quarter. Without these expenses gross margin would be within our third quarter guidance range.
• overall bookings in the third quarter were up 43% year-over-year with a book-to-bill ratio of 1.43 for the quarter, and 1.34 for the nine months ended September 30, 2021. 

ADTRAN also stated its belief that supply chain challenges are peaking during the second half of 2021 and should begin to normalize by mid-2022. 

ADTRAN Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Tom Stanton stated, “We are experiencing record demand for our solutions with Q3 setting an all-time high for bookings in a quarter. This increased demand comes from a diverse mix of global Tier 1 and regional service providers planning to deploy our fiber access platforms, in-home service delivery platforms and SaaS applications. We expect this growth to accelerate. During the third quarter we secured two additional Tier 1 fiber customers, and previously announced Tier 1 fiber customers significantly increased their bookings for our fiber access platforms. Although our revenue growth and profitability in the near-term are impacted by the supply chain issues, our long-term outlook continues to strengthen given the record demand and the supply outlook.”

https://www.adtran.com

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Mavenir and HCL collaborate on O-RAN RRU testing

Mavenir announced a strategic partnership with HCL Technologies (HCL) to accelerate the market availability of O-RAN split 7.2 compliant Remote Radiohead Units (RRUs) while establishing a business model to meet the growing demand and evolving requirements for O-RAN RRUs.

The collaboration brings together HCL’s platform for third-party RRU testing and Mavenir’s full Centralized Unit (CU) and Distributed Unit (DU) RAN software stacks. RRU vendors will, as a result, be given the ability to work directly with HCL to assess their O-RAN interfaces and integrate with Mavenir’s O-RAN compliant cloud-native CU/DU software.

The companies say that by simplifying testing and validation across multiple O-RAN interoperability profiles, the collaboration will help vendors fast-track validation of frequency variants and the increasingly diverse RRU offerings being demanded by the O-RAN market.

“We are directly addressing requests from customers and partners to speed the integration of new RRU products. The growing scale of the O-RAN industry now demands such a model. And thanks to O-RAN and open interfaces, new players such as HCL can enter the market to effectively serve the market needs,” said Mavenir’s Puneet Sethi, SVP/GM RAN Business Unit. “As more O-RAN RRU products become available and RRU partners are enabled to respond rapidly to their customers, CSPs worldwide will be able to take advantage of the full range of their spectrum assets and benefit from the rapidly accelerating RRU ecosystem.”

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Padtec records best quarter in 5 year as DWDM sales soar

Padtec reported gross operating revenue of R$205.7 million for the first half of 2021 representing a growth of 63.7% compared to the same period last year. In the second quarter of the year, operating revenue totaled R$ 119.6 million – an increase of 38.8% compared to the first quarter of 2021, and an increase of 86.3% compared to the same period last year. 

It was the company’s best quarterly result in the last five years, contributing to its good performance in the half-year and realizing the growth ambitions of its operations in Brazil and abroad.

Notably, DWDM  recorded a growth of 75.6% in its revenue in the first six months, compared to the same period in 2020. 

In the first half of the year, Padtec also recorded an improvement in EBITDA, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of R$ 36 million – triple the amount recorded in the same period in 2020. Adjusted EBTIDA (that disregards non-recurring events) reached R$ 21.1 million, with a margin of 13.6% – an increase of 9 percentage points. Gross margin was 35.5% (an increase of 3 percentage points), maintaining the same level as in recent quarters and reinforcing the profitability of the company’s businesses despite the exchange rate fluctuation between the periods.

Carlos Raimar, Padtec’s CEO, states that the company intends to continue investing in the development of quality products with cutting-edge technology, in addition to expanding its leadership in the Brazilian market and significantly expanding its international presence. “The change in the dynamics of the Brazilian telecommunications market, with the accelerated adoption of fiber optic networks for residential and corporate applications, is now being replicated in other countries in Latin America. It is, without a doubt, an opportunity to expand our business in these regions”, highlights the executive. “In addition, the prospect of activating 5G mobile networks in Brazil should generate a strong push to build communication networks across the country, both by operators – already active in the mobile segment – and by regional providers. To support 5G, investment in high-capacity optical networks should significantly increase the demand for DWDM equipment, benefiting our direct customers and their users and paving the way for a society with more connectivity and quality in data services”, adds Raimar.

https://www.padtec.com.br/en/padtec-ends-the-first-half-of-2021-with-growth-of-63-7/

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i3D.net deploys ADVA's FSP 3000 TeraFlex

i3D.net, a leading hosting solutions provider for the gaming industry, has deployed ADVA's FSP 3000 TeraFlex to enhance the experience of the 50 million online gamers that i3D.net serves every day. 

i3D.net’s specific configuration of the ADVA FSP 3000 TeraFlex is able to carry up to 400 Gbps of data per wavelength and 800 Gbps per sled. This open and ultra-flexible 1RU terminal uses software-defined fractional QAM modulation and adaptive baud rate capabilities. 

“As one of the world’s leading high-performance hosting providers, we’re constantly striving to deliver an unbeatable experience for end users. That means investing in the most advanced technology on the market. With our new infrastructure built on the ADVA FSP 3000 TeraFlex™, we’re removing any bottlenecks by massively increasing the capacity of our network. And, thanks to its ultra-flexible coherent interfaces with fractional QAM, it ensures maximum data throughput over every link,” said Edwin Verwoerd, VP, engineering, i3D.net. “Low latency is our business, and that’s precisely what our new solution offers. It enables us to provide a winning edge to both players and businesses.“

https://www.adva.com/

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NXP Semiconductors moves its design tools to AWS

NXP Semiconductors designated AWS as its preferred cloud provider and is migrating the vast majority of its electronic design automation (EDA) workloads from NXP data centers to AWS. 

NXP is using AWS’s  global infrastructure and capabilities in high performance computing (HPC), storage, analytics, and machine learning to enhance collaboration and EDA throughput across dozens of its worldwide design centers, as well as to reduce costs with elastic scaling of compute resources and minimize scheduling risks for design projects. In addition, thanks to AWS’s virtually unlimited scale, NXP engineers gain more time to focus on innovation rather than managing compute resources.

“We believe cloud-based EDA is critical to accelerating semiconductor innovation and getting new designs to market faster to power an increasingly digital world where more and more devices and infrastructure are connected. AWS gives us the best scale, global presence, and selection of compute and storage options, with continuous improvements in price performance, that we need,” said Olli Hyyppa, CIO and senior vice president, NXP Semiconductors N.V. “We’re excited to expand our relationship with AWS to power the next generation of EDA workloads in the cloud. This will give precious time back to our design engineers to focus on innovation and lead the transformation of the semiconductor industry.”

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